Trump’s ex-wife Marla Maples joins cast of ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Actress Marla Maples was married to Donald Trump for six years. DAN STEINBERGThe Associated Press

Actress Marla Maples was married to Donald Trump for six years. DAN STEINBERGThe Associated Press

Turns out a rising tide does lift all boats: Donald Trump’s presidential run has sufficiently raised his profile to the point where his ex-wife, Marla Maples, is considered a “star” — at least by the standards of ABC, which just cast the former C-list actress on the upcoming season of “Dancing With the Stars.”

Maples, 52, who was married to Trump for six years ending in 1999, joins the likes of “Facts of Life” veteran and current Atlanta Real Housewife Kim Fields, talk-show host Geraldo Rivera and one of the members of Boyz II Men on the dancing competition show.

By cha-cha-cha-ing her way across the stage, Maples, who has a 22-year-old daughter with the real estate mogul, is living out the dream of another woman who might have been first lady. Ann Romney, the wife of 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, once confessed after her husband’s unsuccessful political bid that she’d ruefully turned down an offer to join the show’s cast.